Towertalk
[Top] [All Lists]

[TowerTalk] First Hop Skip Distance

To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
Subject: [TowerTalk] First Hop Skip Distance
From: k6ll@juno.com (Dave Hachadorian)
Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2002 13:08:18 +0000


On Tue, 29 Jan 2002 14:37:09 -0500 "Nat Heatwole" <nat@ajheatwole.com>
writes:
> 
> Forgive my ignorance on this topic, but I'm wondering if there is a 
> good
> way to determine exactly how far away the "first hop" is from a 
> given
> QTH. Is there a constant number that's often used as the first hop
> distance or is the distance a factor of several different things, 
> like
> frequency, take off angle, polirization, or antenna height for 
> example?
> What about the hops after the first, is there any way to tell 
> exactly
> how far away they are? Any input is much appreciated.

It varies with a lot of things, especially time of day, time of
year, and solar flux, in addition to the ones you listed above.

A great way to gain insight into this sort of question is to
download the program W6ELPROP from
http://www.qsl.net/w6elprop/

In the Advanced Tab, it shows you how many hops are the
predominant mode on a given path. You can change the
path length to see where the single hop begins and ends.

This is a terrific program. Thanks to W6EL for making it
available at no charge.


Dave Hachadorian, K6LL
Yuma, AZ
K6LL@juno.com

________________________________________________________________________
Where do you get ICE bandpass filters & beverage matching boxes?  The
same place that pays for the hosting of this list:  The eHam Store.
Order online at http://store.eham.net.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

-----
FAQ on WWW:               http://www.contesting.com/FAQ/towertalk
Submissions:              towertalk@contesting.com
Administrative requests:  towertalk-REQUEST@contesting.com
Problems:                 owner-towertalk@contesting.com


<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
  • [TowerTalk] First Hop Skip Distance, Dave Hachadorian <=